Harvesting apparatus

ABSTRACT

Harvesting apparatus for harvesting fruit, berries, and similar produce, including at least on vibratable shaker head assembly positioned to each side of a central longitudinal axis of the apparatus so that the shaker head assemblies are not transversely aligned but are in staggered relationship with respect to each other to each side of the longitudinal horizontal axis. Each shaker head assembly has a plurality of harvesting fingers which are subjected to rotational and vibrational movement by the shaker heads and, in use of the apparatus, the harvesting fingers come into contact and penetrate produce bearing plants or bushes and remain substantially continuously in contact with the plants and bushes as the apparatus moves through or over the plants or bushes, thereby subjecting the plants or bushes to continuous vibrations and shaking to cause fruit, berries or like produce to be dislodged therefrom.

This is a Divisional application of Ser. No. 21,636, filed Mar. 19,1979, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,080.

This invention relates to harvesting apparatus which is usuable todislodge fruit berries and like produce by shaking and vibrating theproduce bearing plants or bushes.

In our U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,859 there is disclosed a straddle typeharvester which has a pair of vibrating shaker head assemblies locatedon preferably both sides of the harvester frame. The output of each headassembly is coupled to a vertically disposed shaft on which are locateda number of sets of radially spaced tines or fingers. Each pair of headassemblies are mounted on a frame which is movable transverse of theframe and can pivot about a substantially vertical axis. In this way thetined shafts can move into or away from the produce bearing plants orbushes to follow the contours thereof.

It has now been found that whilst the arrangement has workedsuccessfully full penetration of the bushes or plants has not alwaysoccurred. This has resulted in part from one tined shaft of the pairhaving influence on the other shaft of the pair because of the commonmounting frame of the pair of head assemblies. In addition it has beenfound that the transverse movement of the mounting frame has not been asfree moving as required and this has further lead to the tines orfingers not fully penetrating the plant or bush.

The shaker head assemblies each have an input and output with the outputbeing mounted for rotary movement relative to the frame of theharvester. The outputs of each head assembly are coupled together so asto have the same rotary motion. A prime mover supplies rotational motionto the inputs of the head assemblies and each head assembly has meanswhich converts the rotary motion to a torsional vibration in the output.The inputs of the or each pair of head assemblies are coupled such thatthe vibrational movement of one head assembly is maintained constantrelative to the other head assembly.

One object of the invention is thus to provide a mounting and drivearrangement for the shaker head assemblies of a harvesting apparatuswhereby the head assemblies of the or each pair of head assemblies havethe same rotary motion and the vibrational movement of one head assemblyis held constant with respect to that of the other head assembly but themovement of head assemblies relative to the harvester frame areindependant of one another.

To increase the yield of harvest it is important to achieve a goodpenetration of the plants or bushes by the tines or fingers and to alsoensure that the vibrating and shaking of the plants or bushes takesplace during the major portion of the time the harvester takes to passover the particular section of the plant or bush being processed. Toachieve full penetration attempts have been made to have the tines orfingers of a shaker head assembly on one side of the bush or plantoverlap with the tines or fingers of a shaker head assembly on the otherside of the harvester. Whilst good penetration results the plants orbushes are subject to damage as there is no control over the movement ofthe sets of tines or fingers on one side in relation to those on theother side. Thus if the sets are moving relatively toward one another orindeed away from one another tearing of the plants or bushes can result.

A second object of the invention is thus to provide a mounting and drivearrangement for the shaker head assemblies of a harvesting apparatuswhereby in use of the apparatus good penetration of the produce bearingplants or bushes is achieved without damage thereto by the relativemovement of the tines or fingers on opposite sides of the plants orbushes.

Broadly in one aspect of the invention there is provided a mounting anddrive arrangement for the shaker head assemblies of a harvestingapparatus comprising at least one pair of vibrating shaker headassemblies, each of the assemblies having an input and an output, aprime mover, means for converting rotary motion applied to each inputinto a torsional vibration superimposed on the associated output member,the output members being mounted so as to enable a rotary motion to besuperimposed thereon, coupling means which couple the output memberstogether so that they have the same rotary motion, an intermediate shaftcoupled to said prime mover, means which transfer rotary motion appliedto said intermediate shaft to each of said input members such that thevibrational movement of one head assembly is maintained constantrelative to the other head assembly, each shaker head assembly of the oreach pair of head assemblies being supported by mounting means, saidmounting means being mounted for pivotal movement independent of theother about an axis which is substantially coaxial with the intermediateshaft.

Broadly in a second aspect there is provided a harvesting apparatushaving a main frame movable relative to the ground, a prime movermounted thereon to provide power for relative movement between the frameand ground, at least one vibrating shaker head assembly mounted on eachside of a longitudinal horizontal axis of the frame, mounting means foreach shaker head assembly which is pivotally coupled to said frame, saidmounting means being movable independent of one another, each vibratingshaker head assembly having an input and output and means which convertrotational motion supplied to the input into torsional vibration on theoutput, means for supplying rotational motion to said input such thatthe vibrational movement of one head assembly is maintained contantrelative to the other head assembly, the outputs of the head assembliesbeing mounted so as to enable rotary motion to be superimposed thereon,coupling means which couple said outputs so that they have the samerotational movement and at least one set of radially disposed tines orfingers carried by an output member coupled to each said head assemblyoutput the shaker head assemblies of the or each pair being positionedin a staggered relationship to each side of a longitudinal horizontalaxis of said harvester frame.

To more fully describe the invention reference will be made to theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one form of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the form of the invention illustratedin FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of the form of the invention illustrated inFIGS. 1 and 2,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a straddle frame harvester according tothe invention,

FIG. 5 is a detail plan view of the shaker head mounting arrangement,

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a second form of the invention, and

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of a type of shaker head assembly which isparticularly suited for use with the invention.

In describing the preferred forms of the invention reference will bemade to a harvesting apparatus which has a pair of shaker headassemblies mounted one on each side of a horizontal longitudinal axisthrough the harvester frame. Such a harvester is illustrated in FIG. 4and comprises a top frame 10 supported on legs 11 the lower ends ofwhich are provided with land wheels 12. The harvester frame is thus of astraddle type and the top frame mounts a driving position 13. Theleading end of the frame is provided with deflector plates 14 whichprovide an opening through which the produce bearing plants or bushesmay readily pass. At the rear of the frame there are provided conveyors15 which remove collected produce from collector plates (not shown)which run longitudinally on each side of the frame between the front andrear legs 11. Straddle type harvesters of this general type are wellknown to those skilled in the art and an example is illustrated in ourpreviously referred to U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,859.

The top frame 10 of the harvester frame includes side members 16 andextending transversely between the side members 16 is a mounting frame17. In the form of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3 a primemover 18 is mounted centrally in frame 17. V Belts 19 extend from apulley wheel 20 on the prime mover 18 to a pulley wheel 21 onintermediate shaft 22.

Pulley wheel 21 is coupled to or formed integrally with pulley wheels 23the resulting assembly being journalled for rotation on shaft 22. Shaft22 is itself fixedly attached to a mounting plate 24 from which itextends vertically upwards. Pulley wheels 23 are of the tooth type andinterenage with toothed belts 25. The belts 25 extend from intermediateshaft 22 to toothed pulley wheels 26 on the input of the shaker assembly27.

A pair of toothed wheels 28 are also mounted for rotation onintermediate shaft 22 and these engage with chains 29 which extend aboutthe toothed rings 30 on the housings of shaker assemblies 27.

Also mounted for rotational movement on intermediate shafts 22 aresleeves 31 which are situated between mounting plate 24 and the pair oftoothed wheels 28. An arm 32 is attached to each sleeve 31 and extendsoutwardly to a shaker assembly mounting frame 33. Each sleeve 31 isprovided with a projection 34 which extends in a direction which issubstantially opposite to the arm 32. A spring 35 extends between eachprojection 34 to a fixture 36 on mounting plate 24. The shaker assemblymounting frames 33 are thus biassed to tend toward the centre of theharvester frame. To restrict the movement of arms 32 stop means areprovided. These stop means consist of a threaded shaft 37 located in acollar 38 which is fixed to mounting plate 24. The amount of projectionof the threaded shaft 37 from collar 38 can be adjusted with locknuts 39provided for this purpose so that the amount of pivotal movement of arms32 about the axis of intermediate shaft 24 can be regulated.

Referring to FIG. 2 there is shown a pillar 40 which extends downwardlyfrom mounting plate 24 so that its central axis is substantially coaxialwith the axis of intermediate shaft 22. Sleeves 41 are mounted forrotational movement at the lower end of pillar 40 and these sleeves 41are attached to an L frame 42 which extends outwardly from sleeves 41and then upwardly to couple with the outer end of shaker assemblymounting frame 33. The bottom of pillar 40 is not located in the formillustrated but could be located in a fixture attached to a lower sidemember of the harvester frame.

Referring to FIG. 5 there is shown a mounting 43 to which an hydraulicmotor M (shown in dotted detail) can be attached. This mounting 43consists of a plate which is slidably located on arms 44 which are fixedto but located above (by supports not shown) the mounting plate 24.Plate 43 is provided with a threaded stud 45 which engages in an openingin cross member 46. A locknut 47 plus bolts 48 through slots 49 intoarms 44 allows for adjustable fixture of the plate 43 on arms 44. Withan hydraulic motor mounted in opening 50 in plate 43 a V belt can extendfrom the output of the hydraulic motor to pulley wheel 21 onintermediate shaft 22. In such an arrangement the central prime mover 18with V belt 19 are not required thus resulting in the central area oftop frame 10 being kept clear.

The shaker head assemblies 27 are preferably of the type illustrated inFIG. 7 of the drawings. Each assembly consists of a cylindrical housing51 which carries toothed ring 30. A sleeve 52 extends downwardly fromthe floor of cylindrical housing 51 and journalled for rotation in thesleeve is an output shaft 53. Sleeve 52 is itself journalled forrotational movement when attached to mounting plate 24.

The upper end of shaft 53 has a crank 54 with the outer end thereofcarrying a projection 54'. This projection 54' engages in an opening 55in a link 56. Link 56 is journalled for pivotal movement on a spigot 57projecting from the floor of housing 51. An elongate opening 58 isprovided in link 56 and the eccentric 59 of input shaft 60 locateswithin this opening 58.

A cover 61 is applied to the upper end of housing 51 and journalled forrotation within cover 61 is a sleeve 62 which has an eccentric bore 63.Input shaft 60 locates within sleeve 62 and is keyed to disc 64 whichhas a series of apertures 65 located on a circle concentric with theopening therein. Disc 64 is attached to the pulley wheel 26 which iskeyed to sleeve 62 and this is effected by a bolt 66 engaging through anaperture 65 into a threaded opening 67 in toothed pulley 26.

Referring to FIG. 3 of the drawings shafts 68 are shown and these areeach attached to an output 53 of a shaker head assembly 27. Each shaft68 carries a set of tines or fingers which are generally indicated at69. It will be appreciated that in FIG. 3 the L frame 42 has beenomitted for the interests of clarity. The lower ends of shaft 69 arejournalled in suitable fixtures 70 which extend from the lower sidemember of the harvester frame.

In operation high speed rotational motion is applied to intermediateshaft 22 and this is transmitted through toothed belt 25 to the inputshaft 60 of the shaker head assembly 27. Rotation of eccentric 59 inlink 56 causes crank 54 to oscillate back and forth which sets up avibrational movement in the output shaft 53. This vibrational movementis transferred to shaft 68 which causes the tines or fingers thereon toalso vibrate. As sleeve 52 is mounted for rotational movement thepassage of the tines or fingers through the produce bearing plants orbushes superimposes a rotary motion on output shaft 53. The rotarymotion on the output shafts 53 of each pair of shaker head assemblies 27is the same due to the coupling of the housings 51 by chains 29extending around toothed rings 30.

To ensure that undesirable vibration is not set up in the harvesterframe the shaker head assemblies of each pair are so coupled by thetoothed belts 25 that the vibrational movement of one assembly can bemaintained constant relative to the other assembly. This is preferablyachieved by setting up one head assembly so that its amplitude ofvibration is equal and opposite to that of the other head assembly. Suchtiming of the head assemblies is achieved by positioning the cranks 54at opposite ends of their throw and then passing bolt 66 through theaperture 65 in disc 64 which is in a alignment with threaded opening 67.The operation and construction of the shaker head assembly is furtherdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,463.

Each shaker assembly mounting frame 33 is free to move about the axis ofintermediate shaft 22 and can do so independent of any other shakerassembly mounting frame 33. Accordingly, the tined shafts 68 can followthe contours of the produce bearing plants or bushes without themovement of one shaft 68 being influenced by the movement of the othershaft 68 of the pair. The aforementioned timing of the shaker assemblyhead 27 of the pair is not significantly altered by pivotal movementabout intermediate shaft 23 though it will be appreciated that theangular positions of the toothed timing and driving belts 25 aboutpulley wheels 21 does alter slightly in response to the pivotal movementof the mounting frames 33 about the axis of intermediate shaft 22.

If the threaded shafts 37 on the inboard side of mounting arms 32 wereadjusted such that at their closest approach the tines or fingers 69 ofshafts 68 on opposite sides of the harvester frame can overlap asituation arises whereby damage can occur to the produce bearing plantsor bushes. A close approach of the opposing tines or fingers is,however, desirable to ensure that there is good penetration of theplants or bushes.

To achieve this required amount of penetration the shaker headassemblies on each side of the frame can be staggered in the mannershown in FIG. 6. In this drawing circles 71 indicate the peripheralboundaries of the tines or fingers associated with each of shafts 68. Itwill be seen that whilst the circles overlap the central longitudinalhorizontal axis of the harvester frame the tines or fingers themselvesdo not overlap. This means that damage does not occur to the producebearing plants or bushes due to the overlap of tines or fingers but atthe same time extremely good penetration of the plants or bushes isachieved. In addition the time during which the plants or bushes arebeing shaken by the harvester during its passage thereover isconsiderably more than with the arrangement shown for example shown inFIG. 1. This overlapping of the circles of action of the tines orfingers can be applied to any straddle type harvester where there is atleast one set of tines or fingers at either side of a horizontallongitudinal axis through the harvester frame.

With the mounting and driving arrangement shown in FIG. 1, however, thearrangement of FIG. 6 can be readily achieved by employing a crankedmounting frame 17. As shown in FIG. 6 the cranked frame has a middleportion 72 which is inclined to the outer portions 73 (which attach toside members 16) with the result that the mounting plates 24 are nottransversely aligned. It will be appreciated that FIG. 6 is diagramaticand the mounting plates 24 are shown without the arms 22 mounting frames33 and the associated belts 25 and chains 29.

The pairs of shaker head assemblies 27 can be mounted in the mannerdescribed in this specification or could for example be mounted in themanner disclosed in our earlier U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,859. Alternatively,pairs of shaker head assemblies on either side of the longitudinalhorizontal axis are not required as a single shaker head assembly oneither side can be employed with the assemblies not being transverselyaligned.

The present invention thus provides a mounting and drive arrangement forthe shaker head assemblies of the harvesting apparatus where each of theshaker head assemblies can move independently of one another but pairsof assemblies are coupled together so that the rotary motion of theoutputs are the same and the vibrational output of one assembly ismaintained in a constant relationship with the vibrational movement ofthe output of the other assembly. The invention also provides a mountingand driving arrangement for the shaker head assemblies of a harvestingapparatus wherein good penetration of the produce bearing plants orbushes by the tines or fingers is achieved.

I claim:
 1. Harvesting apparatus, comprising:(a) a main frame movablerelative to the ground; (b) power means mounted on said main frame toprovide power for the relative movement between said main frame and theground; (c) at least one shaker head assembly located to each side of alongitudinal horizontal axis extending centrally through said mainframe, each shaker head assembly having an output and a vertical axis ofrotation, the or each shaker head assembly to one side of saidlongitudinal axis being located forwardly of the corresponding shakerhead assembly on the other side of said longitudinal axis such that saidshaker head assemblies are positioned in a staggered relationship alongsaid main frame; (d) a shaft attached to the output of each said shakerhead assembly and (e) at least one set of radially spaced harvestingfinger means attached to each said shaft, said harvesting finger means,in use, coming in contact with and penetrating produce bearing plants orbushes and vibrating and shaking said plants or bushes to cause fruit,berries or the like produce to be dislodged therefrom, said harvestingfinger means remaining substantially continuously in contact with saidplants or bushes as said main frame moves through or over said plants orbushes, whereby said plants or bushes are subjected to continuousvibrations and shaking during said contact with said harvesting fingermeans.
 2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said vertical axis ofrotation of each shaker head assembly does not transversely cross saidlongitudinal horizontal axis when said harvesting finger means are incontact with said plants or bushes.
 3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1wherein an imaginary circle defining the extremities of such radiallyspaced finger means of each of the shaker head assemblies overlaps thesaid longitudinal horizontal axis of said frame but there is no overlapbetween adjacent imaginary circles.
 4. A harvesting apparatus,comprising:(a) a main frame movable relative to the ground; (b) powermeans mounted on said main frame to provide power for the relativemovement between said main frame and the ground; (c) a pair ofvibrational shaker head assemblies mounted to each side of alongitudinal horizontal axis extending centrally through said mainframe, each of the assemblies having an input and an output with arespective associated input and output member; (d) a prime mover; (e)means for converting rotary motion applied to each input member into atorsional vibration superimposed on the associated output member, theoutput members being mounted so as to enable a rotary motion to besuperimposed thereon; (f) power transfer means for transmitting highspeed rotational movement to the imput members of each pair of shakerhead assemblies; (g) means coupling together the output members of eachpair of shaker head assemblies whereby the rotational and vibrationalmovement of one output member of the pair is the same as the other; (h)at least one set of radially spaced harvesting finger means positionedin operative connection with each output member;said shaker headassemblies being so positioned to each side of said longitudinalhorizontal axis that they are not transversely aligned but are in astaggered relationship to each side of said longitudinal horizontalaxis, said harvesting finger means in use, coming in contact with andpenetrating produce bearing plants or bushes and vibrating and shakingsaid plants or bushes to cause fruit, berries or the like produce to bedislodged therefrom, said harvesting finger means remainingsubstantially continuously in contact, with said plants or bushes assaid main frame moves through or over said plants or bushes, wherebysaid plants or bushes are subjected to continuous vibrations and shakingduring said contact with said harvesting finger means.
 5. Apparatus asclaimed in claim 4 wherein an imaginary circle defining the extremitiesof said radially spaced finger means of each of the shaker headassemblies overlaps the said longitudinal horizontal axis of said framebut there is no overlap between adjacent said imaginary circles. 6.Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein the finger means are attached toa shaft extending downwardly from each shaker head assembly output. 7.Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 or 6 wherein each pair of shaker headassemblies is coupled to said frame by mounting means which are mountedfor pivotal movement independent of one another.
 8. Apparatus as claimedin claim 5 or 6 wherein each pair of shaker head assemblies is coupledto said frame by mounting means which are mounted for independentpivotal and transverse movement relative to said frame.
 9. Apparatus asclaimed in claim 7 wherein an intermediate shaft is located between theshaker head assemblies of each said pair of shaker head assemblies, apair of coupled pulley wheels mounted for rotation on said intermediateshaft, each of said pulleys having a positively engaging belt whichcouples it to the input member of a shaker head assembly of the pair ofshaker head assemblies between which the intermediate shaft ispositioned, drive means coupling said prime mover to said coupled pulleywheels, a pair of coupled sprocket wheels mounted for rotation on saidintermediate shaft each of said sprocket wheels being engaged by anendless chain which extends about a toothed ring located on a housing oneach respective shaker head assembly.
 10. Apparatus as claimed in claim9 wherein each mounting means is mounted for free pivotal movement aboutan axis which is substantially coaxial with said intermediate shaft. 11.Apparatus as claimed in claim 10 wherein a pillar extends coaxially downfrom below said intermediate shaft, said pillar having a pair of armspivotally mounted at its lower end to extend radially therefrom, eacharm being coupled by an upwardly extending member which is connected tosaid shaker head assembly mounting means.